The Trade deadline has come and gone and as usual the Sharks were busy. After moving out Douglas Murray, Michal Handzus, and Ryane Clowe the Sharks added to their depleted line-up. Within the last hour before the deadline the San Jose acquired former Shark Scott Hannan and Raffi Torres.
The Sharks traded away a lot of grit with Murray and Clowe which Torres will help replace. Torres isn’t exactly a fan favorite in San Jose after his blind side hit on then Shark Milan Michalek. Michalek missed two games from the hit and the Oilers (who Torres then played with) went to represent the Western Conference in the Cup finals eventually losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. He also was responsible for Joe Thornton’s separated shoulder in the Conference finals two years ago.
Scott Hannan will be a depth player in San Jose as he was in Nashville. He will be that just in case guy. Just in case Jason Demers is unable to go and the rookie Matt Tennyson isn’t able to maintain his high level of play.
The way things are going for the Sharks with Brent Burns at forward they won’t want to move him back to the point and the Hannan trade is some insurance on that issue.
Both Torres and Hannan are similar players to who they shipped out, with one exception their contracts expire at the end of the season.
The Sharks also signed Matt Irwin to two year contract extension. The money was not shared with us but it is said to be for just under 1 million per year.
Even though the Sharks are a playoff team they were in a situation where they had to sell off some assets. San Jose has been in the playoffs for so long and have been buyers at the deadline that the farm is depleted. Without trading anyone from the core the Sharks did a pretty impressive job on deadline day.
The time has come for the Sharks to replenish the youth of the team and this is a good year to do it as the upcoming draft is a deep one. The Sharks gave up 7th and 3rd round picks in this year’s draft and received two seconds, a third, and a fourth round picks in the 2013 draft and a 2nd round pick in next year’s draft.
It is important that we keep in mind that 54% of second round picks never play a single game in the NHL, however this year it is a deep draft which means that number could change.
Another thing to keep in mind is the second rounder they received for Clowe from the New York Rangers is actually the Florida Panther’s pick which should be in the top five of the round the way their season is shaping up.
With 54% being the magic number for the second round and of course that number gets smaller as the rounds go on it really puts an emphasis on scouting.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»